Question- Modification List Order for Stock 2013 ZL1
 

Hey Everyone,

I will soon be selling my FBO 2012 2SS and buying a 16k mile fully stock 2013 ZL1.

That being said, I wanted to tap into all the knowledge out there on this forum and ask what the first mods you guys would do to it?

My current thoughts on the list are as follows:
1. Flex Fuel Sensor to be able to run E85 and tune
2. Cold Air Intake (Probably RotoFab)
3. Long Tube Headers
4. Cat-back Exhaust
5. Catch Can
6. Factory Replicas FR 41 (Because I don't like the 5-spoke look)

This will be my first FI car, so I am very open to suggestions on paths to go down.

I want the car to be a street monster, but still drivable as my wife will be using it occasionally.

Thanks ahead of time! :thumbup:

I wouldn’t do anything, every mod lowers its value, trust me it’s fast enough.

I understand that it drops the value of the car, but I do not plan to sell it or trade it.

I would rather have a rowdy weekend car that turns heads and makes me giggle when I hit the gas than a perfectly kept high-value car that sits as a garage queen.

Just my opinion on it, but I appreciate your input! :D

Well for starters, my friends on their ZL1's the first thing they did was a CAI, LT headers, exhaust and a pulley swap and a new tune after that. That alone netted them some nice gains. But the ZL1 stock is a pretty sweet thrill. After they did all that, one of them did the flex fuel sensor, injector upgrade for e85, fuel system upgrade and a new tune, and he ended up at around 660 rwhp... But it is all up to as how much you want to spend, and how far you want to go. Doesn't take much with stock setup to get in more trouble.. lol

If you sell a modified ZL1 yes it will almost certainly sell for less than an unmodified one. You can de-mod to sell just as easy as you can mod it. As long as you understand all the expensive parts you took off will sell for about half what you paid for them-that's the price of fun.
Depending how far you want to go makes a difference buy once cry once.
Air intake, headers, pulley, colder plugs, catch can, injectors flex fuel sensor, AUX fuel pump and a tune will make a huge difference and can be done by anyone with average skills in a weekend or two. These cars are easy to work on. Tune can be done by mail if you don't have a reputable tuner nearby. Your better off saving up and doing it all at once verses a little at a time as individually you wont see much difference. Headers won't add any power until you get about 600rwp. The factory exhaust system sounds awesome with headers try that before you spend money on a new system. A good tuner can make the car drive like a grocery getter until you mash the trottle.

@1JEWLDSSRS Thanks for the response. I hear CAI doesn't make a noticeable difference for what it costs, so I was planning on putting it further down in my list. Probably to do it at the same time as the LTH to de-bottleneck the front end and back end of the air flow through the engine and make it sound meaner. Pulley swaps I'm not knowledgeable on, but I will dig into it further to see if I'd rather do that or E85 or both at the same time first. Can the stock fuel system on the ZL1 not support E85, or does it run lean at WOT? :noidea: I know the consumption is about 30% higher on E85, but people use ZL1 fuel pumps on boosted SS's making good power. Maybe it's an injector problem or needs a boost-a-pump as well.

Either way, thanks for the info!

@bsn I am well aware that if I attempt to sell it, modded will fetch less than stock in 99% of cases, and I'd be LUCKY to sell the aftermarket parts at half the original price. As I stated above, I really don't mind if the car value drops, as long as I enjoy it.

I guess that I didn't realize that the stock fuel system on the ZL1 can't handle flex fuel and E85, but based on 1JEWLDSSRS and your responses it seems like it might need an upgrade to handle the increased consumption on the high-end. I'd rather err on the side of caution and upgrade the fuel system along with the flex fuel, but the cost of that might make it a lower priority on the build list. In my eyes it seemed like the best bang for buck hp boost.

Thanks for the response! :respekt:

Skip the cat-back and new wheels and put that towards a cam.

1. Intake + headers
2. Pulley + E + injectors
3. Cam + ported blower

On a bone stock ZL1 you may be able to do an E85 conversion with just a sensor and larger injectors, but you won’t gain much. Best bang for the buck is probably intake, pulley and a tune.

I guarantee you will not drive it as much as I do, I would drive it for a summer before you do all kinds of mods, CIA makes it sound better, but when I go one 400-500 mile road trips, I never turn off any of the handling controls or you will giggling in the ditch!

After doing A LOT more research through the forums, I have decided that I will start with a cold air intake and catch can as soon as I get the car. Initially I thought E-85 was pretty much the best bang for your buck in terms of hp gains on almost any boosted application, but the gains reported for just a bolt up CAI left me surprised.

Over time I will start buying the other components that I want:

• 1-7/8" Long Tube Headers
• Flex Fuel Sensor
• ID 1050X Injectors
• 2.55 Upper Pulley

I'll drop them all in at once and grab a tune from a reputable tuner. If the tuner says that I'll be at high-duty on my fuel system on E-85 with these mods, I will also look into boost-a-pump or an auxiliary pump to supplement. I'll also discuss any reliability mods that are suggested at the time with the tuner.

All the mods in the list are relatively easy installs, and uninstalls if I change my mind. (Except the auxiliary fuel system if I go that route)

If I get bored of it, I will revisit the topic in a few years, but I think this will land the car in a spot that makes me happy and doesn't compromise the reliability.

I wouldn't say that I have driven this car A LOT, but it has been my friend's car for a couple years and I have driven it for a few hundred miles over that time, so I am not new to how much power it has, and I would like more out of it. I also drove his previous 2013 ZL1 that was at 780 whp on E-85 and know that that is above what I want on a car that my wife will hop into to go get groceries and run errands. :smiling1:

Also, I WILL be getting the new wheels, but I have dropped the idea of modifying the exhaust for now as many people say that long tubes into the stock NPP system sounds great.

On a side note, the car IS automatic, so I am wondering if I should immediately get a tune to disable the AFM or Range AFM plug in to prevent the dreaded lifter issue... Any thoughts on that?

All you guys forgot about cooling. If i where you i would do a afco with fans and a dms 2 gallon reservoir tank. If you can’t keep it cool you’ll just loose the power. I would skip doing an upper pulley and just go with a lower. It will keep a better belt wrap and also you won’t have to pull the supercharger. It will all snowball. If you pull the supercharger you might as well send it out to be ported. Like others have said. Do all the mods at once and then tune. Tuning gets expensive I’ve had 5 done in 3 years. This is what i would do.

Afco /fans
Dms reservoir
5” big gulp
2” headers
1300 Injectors
Dsx aux kit
9.55 lower with pulley relocated
Cam kit with bronze trunnions
Tires
Tune

That should get you to 700hp

Your concerns about disabling AFM are unfounded gen5 ZL1's don't have it. I also prefer a lower pulley change for the better balancer that comes with it. If your going for E85 you really should do a pump upgrade, an aux kit is also reversable with the exception of installing a plug. Cooling is a must when you start making serious power. As I said before a good tuner can make almost any combination easy to live with.